The year is ending

The year is coming to its end. Tomorrow at midnight all 365 days of it will be completed. This will be my last post of this year. But please do come here tomorrow as there will be a guest post. Tomorrow my new guest series, about traditions, will start with a contribution about New Year’s by Dr Gulara Vincent.

I started this year with a mission, find out what I want to do with my life, what I want to do in my future. I took notes, looking at what I have done (and why I did those things), what my competences and interests are. I jotted down things such as journalism, publishing as potential fields to look into. It took me time, and one day I took my courage into my hands and took the leap and started this blog. In the post What I want to say I slightly touched upon this journey.

On the 12th of March my blog went live with my first rather unspectacular post. Quite a few followed that did not get noticed a lot. I felt intimidated leaving comments on other blogs. When I received a like my heart started racing, “wow someone actually read and liked my writing!” In April I dared to take part in the A to Z Challenge, a decision I do not regret. It might have been exhausting, but I found many great bloggers and readers, learnt how to interact with others, and realised that I really enjoy writing short stories and pieces of flash fiction.

I started participating in the Weekend Coffee Shares and BlogBattles and had the chance to do two guest posts, which definitely helped my confidence. Ula at Confessions of a Broccoli Addict let me share a memory of Charles Baudelaire and my Grandmother, then Gulara Vincent had me explore the reasons behind why I write. And then towards the end of November, my first month of daily posting, I had the idea to have guests of my own. As I have mentioned a few days ago, I was completely overwhelmed by the positive response, after all 21 guests provided beautiful posts for the advent calendar.

Life is not just blogging though. This year saw my daughter celebrate her first birthday, start walking, and now start talking. I have often mentioned her in my coffee share posts. I have also worked, not as much as I might have liked, but that left me with quality time for other things such as spending time with my fiancé, our daughter or my parents. I also connected with friends from various moments of my life. Some of them I was able to meet in person, which was always great. Thanks to this blog, I made new friends too. I am always astounded that there are people whom I share so many things with.

Now, at the end of 2015, I happily look back at this year, which has helped me find what I want to do. A combination of writing and teaching always seemed something that I was aiming to do, just that I did not always realise. Teaching German and writing my blog is a combination that suits me well, at least for now. I have some stories that started appearing on paper or on my screen that I want to turn into books, but that will be a good project for next year.

How has your year been? Did you learn things about yourself? Have you started a project that has helped you blossom?

I hope that you have so far had a good and happy year 2015 and that you will make the most of the last few hours.

Oh thank you Gulara. You have won the first place in terms of comments on my blog this year, and I must say that you have been such an inspiring blogger and friend in 2015. Let’s continue growing together in 2016!

Happy New Year, Solveig! What a busy year you had. You’re right, blogging is not everything. You’ve got to make priorities, the hardest thing in life (in my opinion). Enjoy your daughter as children grow fast. Believe me on that one! Be happy through simple things. They are the ones that matter most. I am happy to have met you through our blogs and hope to see you again soon in 2016. Meanwhile enjoy the last hours of 2015. Best to everyone reading this post today.

Thank you Evelyne! Happy New Year!
I do make sure that I enjoy my daughter as much as possible. She’s growing fast, that is so true, and I am happy that I am there to witness and accompany her. I see too many parents who are weekend only parents and too many children whose early childhood is spend with nannies (many of them are sadly not even interested in the kids, but some are real Mary Poppins…)
See you in 2016!

This is a wonderful reflection post, Solveig. Congrats on discovering more about yourself and what you want to do. I think everyone can relate to the difficulties of such a task, (goodness knows I can :p), and I think it’s great that you want to write and teach! That sounds fantastic!

Welcome to my blog. This place on the internet has been around for a few years now. For a while I almost called it home. Now, I have been on quite a few breaks, but don’t let that keep you from enjoying my content.